Product line management: will it work in health care?

Increased competition, changes in reimbursement methodologies, regulation, and tightening of the capital markets have changed the way managers think about healthcare management. Healthcare organizations can no longer survive by taking a passive or reactive approach to the delivery of health care. Managers are feeling increasing pressure to run their organizations "more like a business." In response to these pressures, healthcare managers have looked increasingly outside the industry for insight. One area of inquiry attracting substantial interest is product line management. In this series of three articles, the authors conduct an analysis of several key issues of relevance to hospitals considering product line management.